Message: file_get_contents(https://...@gmail.com&api_key=61f08fa0b96a73de8c900d749fcb997acc09): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Departamento de Ecologia Funcional, Instituto de Ecologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, DF 04510, Mexico.
Published: September 2006
AI Article Synopsis
This review examines the production, breakdown, ecological role, and functions of purine alkaloids, focusing on caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline in plants.
Significant advancements have been made in understanding caffeine biosynthesis, including enzymatic processes and gene encoding for enzymes, leading to the creation of caffeine-deficient plants.
Despite limited ecological insights, progress has been noted in the use of these alkaloids for insect control and their interactions with soil microorganisms, alongside caffeine's role in inhibiting cell plate formation during plant cell division.
Article Abstract
In this review, the biosynthesis, catabolism, ecological significance, and modes of action of purine alkaloids particularly, caffeine, theobromine and theophylline in plants are discussed. In the biosynthesis of caffeine, progress has been made in enzymology, the amino acid sequence of the enzymes, and in the genes encoding N-methyltransferases. In addition, caffeine-deficient plants have been produced. The ecology of purine alkaloids has not proved to be particularly promising. However, advances have been made in insecticidal and allelopathic fields, and in the role of microorganisms play in the changes that these compounds undergo in the soil. Caffeine inhibits cell plate formation during telophase throughout the development of coffee plants and other species.
